GUIDE TO CUBAN DISEASES

 

Aire: Any pain in the body is probably "trapped air."

Destemplanza: Mysterious body temperature, not high enough to be considered fever, but serious enough to miss school and work. Illness is unknown by the American Medical Association and understood only by doctors of Cuban origin.

Patatú: Attack of obscure origin that can strike at any time. Could be serious enough to require hospitalization, yet is undetected by medical technology. Victims tend to be males and females over the age of 50 years.

Sirimba: Attack with similar symptoms as the Patatu's but not as serious and with shorter duration. Can be alleviated by lying on a bed with a wash cloth soaked in alcohol on the forehead .

Sereno: Occurs when someone steps outdoors suddenly at night and is sprinkled by a mysterious substance. There are no physical symptoms and can only be detected by the Cuban elderly. The effect of having this disease is unknown:
children must not be taken out at night without proper head gear or risk of contamination is certain.

Empacho: Digestive disorder which occurs after the consumption of a large Cuban meal, ( i.e. Nochebuena). The only known cure for this disease is "Sal de Fruta ENO", (Alka-Seltzer is completely ineffective).

Mollera: Soft cranial spot found on new born babies of Cuban origin. Much more sensitive than that of Americans. The slightest touch to that area can lead to irreparable brain damage.

PASMO: (Ovarian Induced Dementia): A strange phenomena that occurs when a woman proceeds to wash her hair while menstruating. Can also strike if a woman takes a shower in the 40 days immediately following childbirth. Symptoms include inappropriate behavior requiring th e sufferer to be committed. First studied at Cuba's "Mazorra Clinic for the Terminally Insane". Every Cuban family has at least one case.

Chochera: Syndrome affecting all Cuban senior citizens to different degrees. Characterized by all around bitchiness and irritating behavior . Treatment: Permanent stay at nearest nursing home.

Punzada del Guajiro (Brain Freeze): Sharp pain of short duration in the head occurring after a particularly cold beverage. First reported by "guajiros" (rural Cuban farmers) upon first experiencing refrigerated liquids. Although bothersome, it doesn't have long-term effects.

Cuerpo Cortado: (Cut Body): Frequent and mild condition of unknown ethnology. Symptoms include but are not limited to: Fatigue lack of energy and chronic whining.

Moño Virado: (Twisted Bonnet): Psychological imbalance of short duration that causes strange mood swings, violent irritating behavior as well as general unpleasantness. Extremely common. Can strike anyone regardless of age or sex.

Rabadilla: Skeletal region located at the end of a Cuban's spinal cord. Has absolutely no equivalent in the Gringo's anatomy.

Shark pictures show amazing killing display - Telegraph

 

WOW!!!!!   This pictures are great

Shark pictures show amazing killing display

By Laura Clout

It is the ultimate predator, nature's most efficient killing machine which can hunt and kill its prey with remarkable ease.

 

Goodies from the FCC "TV decency" complaints database

 This is gold!!!!!  Here are hours and hours of entertainment.  I was just reading the ones for South Park and the letters are great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The folks over at governmentattic.org FOIAed portions of the FCC's television complaints database! Browse their site to find citizen complaints about your favorite TV show, or check out a few quick PDF links here: The Daily Show, Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons, and South Park.

Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Heath Ledger’s Funeral

WTF!!!!  Fuckers I hate religion and this is a huge reason why I am an Atheist.   

Someone tell the idiots at the Westboro Baptist Church that Heath Ledger was an actor playing a role in The Brokeback Mountain. Or maybe they didn’t even care.

Is this for real? Sadly, given the history of condemnation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people (LGBT) by Fred Phelps (leader of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas), it’s totally believable that they’d do something this low.

-via One Large Prawn

News: Flying BMW Crashes and Kills Occupants, Darwin Wins

Racing down the main runway of the gated "Jumbo air Aviation Estates" in Dad's BMW probably seemed like a fun idea whether just for the thrill of speed in a test of machinery against an opponent. It was a fun idea right up until the point when the runway ran out, and the car went air born off the 85 foot berm at the end. 200 feet later the car and its five male occupants met their end half way up a tree as the vehicle split in half, spilling the youths into the wilderness. So fierce was the accident, our well trained eyes can't tell what kind of BMW we're looking at. When you watch the video, we think you'll agree the scale of this carnage will assuredly place these gents as early favorites for the 2008 Darwin Awards. And yes, as every other outlet is reporting -- the crash occurred at John Travolta's air strip. We've yet to find what bearing this has on the price of tea in China, but when or if we do, you'll be the first to know.

Thanks to Jalopnik for the news

This tech job's paycheck is a steal

It may sound like a scene from the movie comedy Office Space, but authorities in New Jersey are not laughing.

Like one of the movie's characters--who erroneously receives paychecks--a Chicago-area man has allegedly been receiving nearly $100,000 a year for much of the past five years without actually showing up at the office or doing the job.

And that is what landed Anthony Armatys, 34, in jail about five years after he accepted a job at Avaya Communications, according to a report in the Daily Herald near Chicago. He accepted a job at Avaya in 2002, but backed out without starting the job, the paper reported. However, due to a system error, a paycheck was allegedly being deposited in to Armatys' bank account for the past five years--to the tune of about $470,000.

Armatys was arrested Wednesday at his Palatine, Ill., home on one count of theft by deception for knowingly accepting paychecks for a job he never had, police said. The arrest was the culmination of an 11-month probe by detectives in New Jersey, where the communications company is based.

He may have been the unwitting recipient of a clerical error, but--in the eyes of legal-savvy Daily Herald readers--Armatys crossed the line when he allegedly called Fidelity Investments, identified himself as an Avaya employee, and arranged the withdrawal of about $2,000 from an employee retirement fund to which the company had contributed.

Armatys is being held on $50,000 bail while he is awaiting extradition to New Jersey.

The Armatys family told the newspaper that it had "no comment at all."

Umm, yeah. I think prosecutors are gonna have to ask you to return those paychecks.

Thanks to Cnet for the story

Dodd's 30-minute anti-wiretapping barn-stormer -- video

 

In this remarkable 30 minute speech captured from CSpan, Senator Chris Dodd (D-Con) speaks eloquently and rationally about the risk to America and its people should Congress pass the new FISA wiretap law, which will forgive phone companies for participating in the NSA's illegal warrantless spying on the entire nation. While Constitutional non-believers like Harry Reid are calling for a swift passage to the bill -- so that he can jet off to Davos and play with the hedge fundies before they all commit seppuku -- Dodd is vowing to fight it and fight it and fight it. It's time to call your Senators and let 'em know that you believe in the rule of law and freedom and security.

Pointing out that not all telecom's complied with the request from the Bush administration to listen in on private conversation of American citizens unless they were given a court order to do so, Dodd also questioned where such violations would end, and warned the notion of Americans giving up rights in order to be safe was a "false dichotomy that is dangerous."

Link(via Isen)

Seattle police receive spanking for taking photographer's camera

 

Thomas Hawk says:

Apparently the City of Seattle settled with amateur photographer Bogdan Mohora after the ACLU helped him file a claim over a false arrest when Seattle cops James Pitts and David Toner arrested Mohara for taking their photograph during the arrest. Bogdan was awarded $8,000 and the officers were disciplined.

Just another friendly reminder that photography is not a crime, even if the police tell you it is.

Link

Supermarket Trick: Wait One Month Before Using Coupons [Tips]

 

Trent at the Simple Dollar describes the "one month coupon strategy"—a cool trick that lets you line up coupons with in-store sales for massive discounts. Set aside grocery coupons for a month, then go through and select the ones you're interested in. Bring them to the store and you'll find that many of them are for products that are now on sale. On Trent's last visit to the supermarket, approximately 40% of the coupons matched on-sale products—in the most extreme example, he was able to purchase some ice cream for 19 cents.

Trent's friend works for Hy-Vee grocery stores and gave him the tip, and he explains why it works:

Coupons in the newspaper are usually the first wave of a product push from large companies. They'll put out coupons to start bumping up the sales, then they'll move onto sale prices later on in the promotion. The reason for doing these in waves is so that the overall product sales trend looks solidly positive and not just a big spike with a fall-off. Plus, coupon users who use the product, like it, return to the store, and notice the item on sale are often willing to buy the item again.

"The One Month Coupon Strategy: A Really Clever Way to Make Coupons Worthwhile" [The Simple Dollar]
(Photo:Brett L.)

Inventory Your Home or Office with StuffSafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inventory all of your home or office furnishings and bolster your theft or disaster recovery plan with web site StuffSafe. The obvious idea behind the service is that any on-site inventory is no good, since you'll very likely lose the inventory materials in the event of a disaster or theft. StuffSafe asks for pictures, descriptions, serial numbers, and even allows read-only access to your account for your insurance agent or other third parties. Finally, you can create a backup of your account and cancel it at any time. I can't say how acceptable a method like StuffSafe would be to your insurance agent, but it seems like a wonderful way to document your stuff in case of theft. If you know more about it or have your own preferred methods, let's hear about it in the comments.

StuffSafe [via 43F]

Make Your Own Passport Photos [Travel]

 

If you have a computer and a digital camera, there's no reason to ever pay a drugstore $8 for a couple of crummy passport photos and lousy customer service. This blogger discovered that he couldn't even get an in-focus photo from a local CVS: "When we pointed that out, he was like 'Oh really? don't worry all photos printed here look like that and no one ever came back because a photo was not accepted.'" If you're not Photoshop-savvy, just use the free epassportphoto.com website.

At epassportphoto you upload your photo, crop it according to your country's standard guidelines, and save the resulting 4x6" image—that's six 2x2" ID shots—to your computer to print wherever you like, whether it's at home, from an online service, or at that same CVS with the myopic camera operator.

Not only will you be able to control the photo lighting and quality (and retake the photo until you're happy with it), but you'll have four more 2x2" shots than you get for $8 at CVS or Walgreens. And if you need any more incentive to cut the drugstore out of the process, consider that they also produce sets of six photos at a time—they just refuse to give you more than two unless you pay extra:

While we waited for the photos to print out, I saw (with my own eyes) that the photographs were printed on a 4″ x 6″ photo paper - and there were 6 copies on it. Then the dude coolly cut away 4 copies, disposed them, and handed us the remaining two copies.

"The Stupid Passport Photo Ripoff" [the tao of making money]
(Photo:Mexican 2000)

A Red Storm Boils over the Jovian Prairie [Atmosphere Porn]

 

This is a beautiful picture!!!!!

It looks like somebody photoshopped the Canadian prairies inside the red gasses of Jupiter, but this is an actual picture, untouched, of Earth. It's a"shelf cloud" lit up by early-morning light. Photographed from the Trans-Canada highway in Saskatchewan, this shelf cloud was most likely the bleeding edge of a storm.

The photo, taken by Jeff Kerr, was the Astronomy Picture of the day yesterday. It showcases why the shelf cloud is particularly menacing -- not only does it presage a storm, but it's attached to another bank of clouds above it. So it's literally a gigantic wall of cloud leading a cold front. (Though it's not the same as a wall cloud,which trails a storm system rather than leading it.)

Also, this image shows off the amazing beauty of the Saskatchewan prairies and reminds me that sometimes Earth is the most alien-looking planet I know.

MPAA admits to lying about college downloading

 I new they have were lying about the whole college students downloading 44% of film downloading.  They screaming "cry wolf" to see who comes out, and blaming them for illegal downloading.

The MPAA study that showed that students were responsible for 44 percent of film downloading? A big old lie. And now the MPAA has admitted it:

In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry's domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus.

The MPAA has used the study to pressure colleges to take tougher steps to prevent illegal file-sharing and to back legislation currently before the House of Representatives that would force them to do so.

But now the MPAA, which represents the U.S. motion picture industry, has told education groups a "human error" in that survey caused it to get the number wrong. It now blames college students for about 15 percent of revenue loss.

Link (via /.)

Little people concealed in hockey bags fleece Swedish bus passengers

 

According to the Swedish daily newspaper Expressen.se, police suspect that a team of thieves operating in Sweden are using little people hidden in hockey bags and placed in the cargo holds of buses to loot passengers luggage while in transit.

Passengers noticed the oversized hockey bags being quickly carried off to the trunk of a waiting car when they reached their destination. Their valuables, however, were nowhere to be found in their luggage. Police launched the theory that it would be possible for a small person to hide in the luggage compartment (ala Shanghai "trunk man") and have now issued a public warning.

Canadian Privacy Commissioner rejects DRM: don't give spyware legal protection!

 

Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, has published an open letter to Industry Minister Jim Prentice, who has been working behind the scenes to resurrect his disaster of a copyright bill, which will import the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act to Canada. The DMCA has been a total failure, resulting in nearly 30,000 lawsuits against music fans, massive anti-competitive effects, and despite all that, no discernable decrease in unauthorized copying.

At issue in Stoddart's letter is the idea of protecting "Digital Rights Management" anti-copying and use-control systems in law. These systems frequently spy on users and then "phone home" with detailed information about your activities. The Privacy Commissioner is understandably alarmed at the prospect of changing Canadian law to make it illegal to tamper with this spyware:

If DRM technologies only controlled copying and use of content, our Office would have few concerns. However, DRM technologies can also collect detailed personal information from users, who often do no more than access the content on a computer. This information is transmitted back to the copyright owner or content provider, without the consent or knowledge of the user. Although the means exist to circumvent these technologies and thus prevent the collection of this information, previous proposals to amend the Copyright Act contained anti-circumvention provisions.

Technologies that report back to a company about the use of a product reveal a great deal about an individual’s tastes and preferences. Indeed, such information can be extremely personal. Technologies that automatically collect personal information about individuals without their knowledge or consent violate the fair information principles that are central to PIPEDA and most other privacy legislation. That this occurs when individuals are engaged in a private activity in their homes or other places where they have a high expectation of privacy exacerbates the intrusiveness of the collection.

Link (via Ars Technica)

Congress moving forward with plan to tie college funding to support for RIAA measures

 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns us that H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007, is still steaming ahead with its "Campus-based Digital Theft Prevention" that ties college funding to universities' purchase of DRM-based industry-sanctioned download services and deployment of network snoopware that spies on and disconnects college kids if they appear to be violating copyright (without any hard evidence or a chance for the student to present her side of the story).

These congressional requirements will turn out to be expensive dead-ends -- the industry-sanctioned online music services are laden with DRM, and network detection/filtering programs present privacy risks and are inevitably rendered obsolete by technological countermeasures.

Advocates of the bill stress that the language stops short of demanding implementation -- that it only requires universities to "plan" -- but this argument misses the point entirely. The passage of this bill will unambiguously lead universities down the wrong path. For the sake of artists, administrators, students, and consumers better approaches exist.

The bill also would hang an unspoken threat over the heads of university administrators. In response to concerns that potential penalties for universities could include a loss of federal student aid funding, the MPAA's top lawyer in Washington said that federal funds should be at risk when copyright infringement happens on campus networks. Moreover, earlier versions of "Campus-based Digital Theft Prevention" proposals nakedly sought to make schools that received numerous copyright infringement notices subject to review by the US Secretary of Education.

Link(via /.)

Marching band's classic video game themed halftime show

RIAA website hacked. Over the weekend, some ... [Riaa]

  This is great!!!! 

RIAA website hacked. Over the weekend, some hacker-types took it upon themselves to delete the RIAA's website. [TorrentFreak]

Freaky Robotic Cat

Sega Toys' Yume Neko (Dream Cat), introduced at the Tokyo Toy Forum this week, is more like Creepy Porn Cat. When you pet it or scratch its neck, it says things in Japanese like, "Pet me softly" and "Give me more, give me more." It even has a couple of different variations of sultry giggles. WTF??

Notice to Laurel

If you don't start to comment on my blog I am going to start to put your picture on my blog.  :-)  We love ya!!!!!!!

Mobile Phone Use Linked to Insomnia

Yeah Sure!!!!!

A new study shows that using your mobile phone just before you go to bed can make it harder to get a good night's sleep. Study participants exposed to the radiation equivalent of a mobile phone took longer to get to the deeper stages of sleep and spent less time in the deepest one than those who were not.

"This research suggests that if you need to make a phone call in the evening it is much better to use a land line, and don't have your mobile by your bedside table."

Urban Legend ER

WOW!!!! Beautiful HDRI pictures

HDR stands for "High Dynamic Range Imaging" is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows. Here is one of the pictures. 

Here is the flickr pool by Masato Ohta from the Japan HDR Flickr Photo Pool.

Skooba's Superbungee Camera/Binocular Strap

 Sweet...  I have to get me one of this for my D-SLR in the near future.  They are right the regular straps that come with D-SLR are a pain in the neck, they feel like you are carrying a small baby in our neck. Here is the link to the website 

Own a D-SLR? Then you're probably already familiar with the discomfort of carrying it around your neck—it's just so heavy! Then how about a camera strap that eliminates that discomfort? Adding to Skooba Design's existing Superbungee Strap line (Gearlog reviewed the larger strap for laptop bags) is a strap designed for cameras and binoculars. The Superbungee Camera/Binocular Strap features a "sport-tuned suspension system" with an adjustable strap range of 21 to 45 inches. That way, you can keep your camera or binocular right with you while minimizing the discomfort of the extra weight around your neck. It fits cameras or binoculars with standard 3/8-inch strap slots or can be threaded to the split keyring-type connectors on older cameras.

The company also mentions that on the reverse side of the shoulder pad is a "flexible strip of individual, air-filled cells [that] add to the shock absorption and comfort, and are covered in a friction laminate to help prevent slipping."

The Superbungee Camera/Binocular Strap is available in five different color combinations for $16.95.

Life After People, new documentary

This documentary sounds good pretty good. I am thinking The movie "I Am Legend" with no Will Smith or human mutants around. I am so exited I cant wait to see it. Have I said I love my TIVO 

Life After People is a new TV documentary airing on the History Channel that attempts to forecast what our planet would be like if we were gone. It premieres this coming Monday, January 21. Looks like a lot of post-apocalyptic fun! From the show's mini site:

Abandoned skyscrapers would, after hundreds of years, become "vertical ecosystems" complete with birds, rodents and even plant life. One small animal might be responsible for bringing down the Hoover Dam hydroelectric plant. Swelled rivers, crumbling bridges and buildings, grizzly bears in California and herds of buffalo returning to the Great Western Plains: In a world without humans, these would be the visual hallmarks. Our cars would shrivel to piles of dust, our house pets would be overtaken by flourishing wildlife and most of the records of our human story -- books, photos, records -- would fade quickly, leaving little evidence that we ever existed.
Using feature film quality visual effects and top experts in the fields of engineering, botany, ecology, biology, geology, climatology and archeology, Life After People provides an amazing visual journey through the ultimately hypothetical.
The 1986 nuclear power plant accident at Chernobyl and its aftermath provides a riveting and emotional case study of what can happen after humans have moved on. Life After People goes to remote islands off the coast of Maine to search for traces of abandoned towns, beneath the streets of New York to see how subway tunnels may become watery canals, to the Montana wilderness to divine the destiny of the bears and wolves.

Connie might start writing on this blog

I know you guys love what I have written down so far, and might complain about a girl writing stuff on my blog...Cooties ewwwwww.  But you might like what she has to say.

World’s Largest Snow Sculpture

This is pretty cool!!!  I wonder how long it took them.

That’s "Romantic Feelings," the world’s largest snow sculpture in the 20th International Snow Sculpture Art Expo in Harbin, China.

The sculpture is about 115 feet (35 m) high and 656 feet (200 m) long!

Sun-Sentinel has the photo gallery: Link

Judge Dismisses Class Action Lawsuit Against Overstock.com Due To Mandatory Binding Arbitration Clause [Arbitration]

Don't buy from Overstock.com they have an Mandatory Binding Arbitration Cause 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know that every time you purchase something from Overstock.com you agree to a mandatory binding arbitration clause and have no legal recourse against the company? Even if they illegally disclose too much of your information on your receipt?

From the Madison County Record:

Shandie Deaton filed the suit Sept. 18, 2007, one month after she made a purchase on Overstock.com. She alleged her receipt violated FCRA.

The act was passed in 2003 and provides that anyone accepting credit or debit cards may not print more than the last five digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of sale or transaction.

The lawsuit asked for monetary relief of no less than $100 and no more than $1,000 for each violation. Overstock filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that its customers agreed to mandatory binding arbitration by purchasing something from their website.

According to Overstock, customers can freely access their website, however when placing an order, they must agree to the website's terms and conditions before they can continue.

The judge ruled in favor of Overstock and dismissed the case. "Accordingly, the Court cannot conclude that arbitration of this action is prohibitively expensive," Gilbert wrote. "Therefore, the Court will not invalidate the mandatory arbitration clause based on the theory that forcing Deaton to submit to arbitration would prevent her from vindicating her rights."

We took a look at this arbitration clause and noticed that there's an exception to it. If you even "threaten" to violate Overstock.com's intellectual property rights, they reserve the right to haul you into state or federal court in the state of Utah. What a piece of work.

Jeremy Clarkson stung for £500 as fraud stunt gets punished | Money | Guardian Unlimited

Dumb ass!!!   hahahah.  Daring the whole world by putting he's information and think that no one is going to do anything with it.

Clarkson stung by fraud stunt

• Press Association
• Guardian Unlimited,
• Monday January 7 2008

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has admitted he was wrong to brand the scandal of lost CDs containing the personal data of millions of Britons a "storm in a teacup" after falling victim to an Internet scam.

The outspoken star printed his bank details in a newspaper to try and make the point that his money would be safe and that the spectre of identity theft was a sham.

He also gave instructions on how to find his address on the electoral roll and details about the car he drives.

However, in a rare moment of humility Clarkson has now revealed the stunt backfired and his details were used to set up a £500 direct debit payable from his account to the British Diabetic Association.

The charity is one of many organizations that do not need a signature to set up a direct debit.

Clarkson, 47, writing in his column in the Sunday Times, decried the furore last year after CDs disappeared containing the banking details of 7 million families.

The loss led to fears of mass identity theft with people's bank accounts open to Internet scams.

At the time he wrote: "I have never known such a palaver about nothing. The fact is we happily hand over cheques to all sorts of unsavory people all day long without a moment's thought. We have nothing to fear."

However, yesterday he told readers he had opened his bank statement to find a direct debit had been set up in his name and £500 taken out of his account.

"The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again," he said. "I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake."

He added: "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy."

Jeremy Clarkson stung for £500 as fraud stunt gets punished | Money | Guardian Unlimited